Happy Last Day of School! We’re finally here. After six years of class parties, recess four-square, playgrounds, fast-facts, and planners, you get to say good-bye to Elementary School. Welcome to Middle School. Welcome to lockers, your own laptop, friends with cell phones, adolescence, crushes, and long nights of homework. Welcome to a weird time in your life....Continue Reading
Thanks to the constant rain this month, Texas is flooded. The bayous are swollen, the streets are impassable, and yards are like swimming pools. This kind of weather is so fitting for May, a month also flooded with commitments, parties, emotions, and stimulants. We introverts can handle the a light, steady rain of stimuli. We can smile...Continue Reading
We’re in the process of booking Best of Times for the summer. Our renters are mostly families who live in Texas suburbs and come to the coast for vacation. Back home, their planned-community homes are brick, and big, and beautiful. Six-foot privacy fences separate yards, and these yards are filled with trampolines, swimming pools, and swing sets. Every day landscaping crews...Continue Reading
As a stay-at-home/work-from-home mom, my schedule is flexible. In theory, this open schedule allows time with my kids. My flexibility means I’m available to help when the kids’ school needs a volunteer and to make sure the house is running smoothly. On a good day, being a stay-at-home mom means I can say yes to anything. But the trap is that...Continue Reading
When we planned a trip to Yosemite, we weren’t really thinking about Thoreau or his famous quote about going to the woods to live intentionally. We were thinking about seeing our friends, the Cavalleris. We were excited to show our kids another part of the country, a part with forests instead of swamps and mountains instead of...Continue Reading
For Easter break, our family travelled to California to hike at Yosemite and see old friends. I want to tell you all about Yosemite and its breathtaking views, but that’s another post. First I have to write about how hard it is to return from a family trip. It’s been two weeks, and our family...Continue Reading
On Ash Wednesday I made the spontaneous decision to write a blog post every day for 40 days during Lent. At the time this seemed like a brilliant idea. After a busy season of writing Bible study curriculum, blogging every day seemed like just the creative antidote I needed. Also, I was out of the habit...Continue Reading
The weather is warmer here, and the sunshine seems to have robbed our kids of their hearing ability. Yesterday I asked Catie to put her shoes away about 17 times. I’m not normally a yeller, but I’m starting to see the gratification. MAYBE YOU CAN HEAR THIS?! I’m sure the kids’ teachers are also struggling with the...Continue Reading
Of our four kids, only one was potty-trained by three. Only one learned to write his name in one sitting. Only one can make it through a day of Preschool with no tears, no separation anxiety, and no meltdowns about his shirt tag itching. Nate is an easy child, a pleaser who has the tenacity, IQ, and...Continue Reading
Here I am again. After last week’s juice fast, I’ve rediscovered how much my body needs clean food. The other stuff, the processed junk I often eat and tell myself is healthy-ish, isn’t working. I didn’t realize how tired, how spacey and irritable I felt until I cut all that out of my diet. Now I’m...Continue Reading
